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Isack Hadjar says his move from Racing Bulls to Red Bull for the 2026 season has been a "culture shock". Hadjar said: "That's definitely a culture shock, let's say. You go from more of a family team, an Italian team, to British. It's definitely different."
Gabriel Bortoleto says Audi’s entry into Formula 1 and takeover of Sauber has made it “a different situation”, with a major shift in mentality backed by stronger resources. Bortoleto said: "Yeah, you can really see a difference, especially the mentality has shifted a lot. I think lots of respect for the team that we had for last year and many other years before that, but the truth, reality, is that we are in a different situation right now. We have Audi backing us up. It's manufacturing. We are doing our own engine. We have a lot of financial support from them, so we are not struggling in that sense that maybe Sauber struggled in the past. And then the mentality also shifts."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says it is easier for the team to balance development between its 2026 car and the 2027 project than it was a year ago, because the regulatory changes are “relatively minor”. Stella said: "In a sense, this year it is easier to find a middle ground between the two requirements. Whilst in 2025 we were faced with the need to strike a balance between two extremes – pushing right to the limit to win the world championship and having to design a new car practically from scratch – this year the transition between the two projects is much smoother, given that the regulatory changes are relatively minor."
Oliver Bearman said driving Ayrton Senna’s 1985 race-winning Lotus at Silverstone was a “very powerful” experience for him, describing it as an emotional moment that left him in tears. Bearman said: "I think it was a mixture of things. Well, the most important was that it was the exact chassis that Ayrton won his first ever race in... It was just such an emotional moment for me, sharing it with my father and my girlfriend... It was a very powerful moment for me... Driving the car was really one of the best days of my life, and those emotions hit me really hard after."
Former Force India and Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer says Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff sent BWT to speak to him after Mercedes’ board rejected the idea of running a pink livery. Szafnauer said: "The Mercedes board said, 'We're the silver arrows, not the pink arrows.' They started talking about making them the pink arrows and Mercedes finally said no. Toto said, 'Well, instead of you just leaving Formula 1, how about you go talk to Otmar? I'm sure he'll do it for you.'"
Valtteri Bottas says Cadillac will soon shift its resources fully towards its 2027 car, with work on its 2026 machine set to be wound down despite more parts still due to arrive. Bottas said: "We still have something coming performance-wise, but no magic, nothing huge. So obviously, there is a point that we need to shift our focus 100 per cent for next year, which is coming soon. It means that we can still make progress, but big steps are more challenging to make because everyone is still bringing their last upgrades."
Williams team principal James Vowles says Formula 1’s cost cap is forcing the team to divert resources away from developing its 2026 car so it can modernise outdated facilities. Vowles said: "We have many, many years where we haven't been able to build up our facilities to the level it needs to be. And what the cost cap does is it constrains you. So we are dedicating a lot of resources to making sure we are fixing those problems behind the scenes rather than bringing performance to the car in the current year."
Audi Formula 1 boss Mattia Binotto says he is “very happy” with Audi’s current driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto amid speculation linking Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri to the team. Binotto said: "Carlos is certainly a person whom I know very well, and it's somehow easy and obvious to link him to Audi, but I can only say that I'm very happy with the line-up we have. They are two very fast drivers, and I am happy because they are fast drivers, both of them, so we've got a good line-up."
Max Verstappen says his Verstappen Racing project is aimed at expanding into endurance racing rather than entering Formula 1, after setting up the team in 2022 and running it in GT3 categories. Verstappen said: "No! Because that's way too demanding. Then I'd still be on the road for 24 races a year or very busy with my own racing team. Outsource things? Yeah, that's possible. But I think that if you're a truly dedicated team owner who wants to get everything right, you have to stay on top of things and be there in person."
Franco Colapinto says Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore was “not happy at all” after the team scored a double points finish at the Canadian Grand Prix because he wanted answers on why they were further off Ferrari than they had been in Miami. Colapinto said: "We finished P6 and P8 in Canada, those were amazing points for the team, but after the race Flavio was not happy at all and kept pushing the team. He wanted to understand why that was. Everyone was really happy with the points, but he was like, no no, I want more. I want answers and I want to improve more."
Honda chief engineer Shinharo Orihara said the manufacturer’s target with Aston Martin is to put Fernando Alonso back in a position to fight for a world championship, with the Spaniard set to decide after the summer break whether he continues in Formula 1 and with the team. Orihara said: "That is our target, definitely. So we are working closely, and we know he is a great driver. He has a big passion, and he trusts Honda. So we want to bring what he wants, that is definitely our target."
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli says he “let the pressure” get to him during a mid-season slump in form in his debut year, when he struggled after Mercedes made changes to its car. Antonelli said: "I had a good start to the season, then I had a difficult period. In the European season I really struggled and in that moment I let the pressure kind of destroy me as well during that period. I felt like I was letting down so many people who had believed in me. Of course especially Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team principal], because he was the main one who took the decision [to promote him]."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the team does not have a dominant power unit under the new 2026 rules and he does not expect Formula 1 to see a 2014-style era of supremacy again. Wolff said: "What made us so dominant at the beginning of the 2014 hybrid era was that for a long time our power unit was very much dominant. Today you can see that Ferrari is very close to us. So I don't think we will see this kind of era of dominance anymore in F1."
Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon says the American outfit wants to become “the team that everybody wants to join” as it looks to attract top talent in Formula 1. Lowdon said: "Internally, one of our managers said, and I agree with it, that we want to make this the team that everybody wants to join, everyone's proud to be a part of, and nobody wants to leave. If we can achieve that, then we'll attract the very best people, build the very best team, and hopefully the results will follow."
Formula 2 championship leader and Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov says he has not yet held talks about his future, amid links to a Racing Bulls seat currently occupied by Liam Lawson. Tsolov said: "Nothing yet, unfortunately. But it's still early days. I think we need to get through the summer break. I need to keep doing what I'm doing. I have no doubt that if everything goes the same way, I surely would get an opportunity one day. So for me, that's important. I focus on the current, which is F2."
Liam Lawson says he is in a “good place” after a successful first half of the 2026 season with Racing Bulls. Lawson said: "When you're in a good rhythm and you find things that are working for you, it's obviously a good feeling. And getting in a routine of doing that has been something that, especially during the European part, we've had less travel and spent a bit more time at home. It's been a good opportunity to just focus a little bit more on myself as a driver and as an athlete, so I've just tried to do that."
Audi Formula 1 boss Mattia Binotto says he is “very happy” with Audi’s current driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto amid speculation linking Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri to the team. Binotto said: "Carlos is certainly a person whom I know very well, and it's somehow easy and obvious to link him to Audi, but I can only say that I'm very happy with the line-up we have. Instead, I would judge them differently. They are two very fast drivers, and I am happy because they are fast drivers, both of them, so we've got a good line-up."
Oscar Piastri said Formula 1 simulators are a useful part of preparing for a grand prix weekend, after Lewis Hamilton insisted earlier this year that he would not use the simulator because he felt it had “misled” him. Piastri said: "I find it useful. I've also grown up in a different generation to what Lewis would have grown up in. With the current cars, they are very complicated, and I find that having some simulator running is quite useful, both for myself and the team. They're never going to be perfect, and they're never going to be as good as driving the real car."
Stefano Domenicali says a German Grand Prix will “definitely” return to the Formula 1 calendar, describing it as a question of when rather than if, although he stressed it will not be a short-term move. PlanetF1 reports Domenicali has already held an initial discussion about a potential race at Hockenheim, which last hosted F1 in 2019. He pointed to Germany’s changing media market and the presence of major F1 stakeholders based in the country, including Audi and Mercedes, as key factors behind the renewed push.
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